Purifying your investment income
After this lesson you can work out how much of a dividend to purify, keep a simple purification record, and spot income that should never reach your account in the first place.
Investment ki income ki tathir
Jo stock 5% income test paas kar le, us ki income mein bhi thora sa sood ya najaaiz hissa ho sakta hai. Dividend ka utna hissa sadqa kar dein, sawab ki niyyat ke baghair aur apne istemal ke baghair: dividend x najaaiz income ka %. Misal: Rs 24,000 dividend aur 3% najaaiz income ho to Rs 720 alag karein.
Kuch ulama kehte hain ke dividend na bhi mile to per share najaaiz income ke hisab se tathir karein: 2,000 shares x Rs 0.50 = Rs 1,000. Capital gain par bhi ikhtilaf hai: kuch sirf dividend ki tathir kehte hain, kuch munafe ke ek hisse ki bhi. Apne bharosemand aalim ke saath ek tareeqa chunein aur hamesha usi par chalein.
Tathir chhote, ghair iradi hisse ke liye hai. Savings account ka sood, crypto ki fixed 'earn' ya lending yield aur margin shuru se hi na lein; baad mein tathir se yeh jaiz nahi hote. Har tathir ka record rakhein: tareekh, holding, raqam, % aur kahan di.
- Dividend ka najaaiz hissa sawab ki niyyat ke baghair alag kar ke de dein.
- Screening batati hai share rakh sakte hain ya nahi; tathir us ki income ka chhota najaaiz hissa saaf karti hai.
- Sood wale products se shuru se bachein, record rakhein aur ek hi tareeqa istemal karein.
Poora sabaq neeche English mein hai. Quiz English mein hai; asaan alfaaz mein.
Hira, a freelancer in Faisalabad, holds KMI-30 shares for the long term and a small crypto account. Her first dividend arrived, and a friend told her she must 'clean' part of it before using it. Another friend said that passing the screen meant the money was already clean. Hira did not want to keep what was never hers, or to give away a guessed amount.
Why a screened stock can still need purification
Even a stock that passes the 5% income test may earn a small amount from interest or other impermissible sources. Most scholars who accept such stocks require the investor to purify that part: give it away to charity without seeking reward, and without using it for yourself. Purification simply removes what was never yours to keep.
Passing a screen and purifying are two separate steps. The screen decides whether you may hold the share at all; purification deals with the small impermissible part of what the share pays you.
Two ways to work it out
The common method uses the dividend: purification = dividend received x (impermissible income / total income). Some scholars hold that you should purify your share of the company's impermissible income even when no dividend is paid, using impermissible income per share x shares held. The percentages come from screeners and the company's annual report.
Scholars also differ on capital gains. Some ask only for dividends to be purified; others ask investors who sell at a profit to purify a share of the gain as well. Choose one method with a qualified scholar you trust, write it down and use it every time.
Income that should not be there at all
Purification is for small, incidental amounts inside a permissible holding. It is not a licence to earn interest and then give it away. Interest on a savings account, fixed 'earn' or lending yields on crypto, and interest-bearing margin are avoided in the first place, not purified afterwards.
- If interest reaches your account by accident, give it away without seeking reward and close the product that pays it.
- Keep a simple record: date, holding, amount received, impermissible %, amount purified and where it went.
- Purify soon after the dividend arrives, so the amount does not mix with your spending.
Hira's purification
Dividend method: Hira holds 2,000 shares that paid Rs 12 per share, a dividend of Rs 24,000. The company's impermissible income is 3% of total income, so she gives 24,000 x 3% = Rs 720.
Per-share method: with impermissible income of Rs 0.50 per share, she would give 2,000 x 0.50 = Rs 1,000, whether or not a dividend was paid.
Her record line: 2,000 shares, dividend Rs 24,000, impermissible income 3%, Rs 720 purified, given to a local charity, with the date.
Purification follows from the command not to consume wealth unjustly (Quran 2:188) and to give up what remains of riba (Quran 2:278-279). AAOIFI Shariah Standard 21, on shares, sets out the disposal of impermissible income for investors in screened companies. On capital gains and on the per-share method, scholars hold different positions in good faith. Choose with a qualified scholar you trust and use the same method every time.
Education, not a fatwa. Where scholars differ, we say so. See what scholars say.
The trap is treating a passed screen as the end of the job and spending the whole dividend. The opposite trap is 'purifying' interest you chose to earn and calling it clean. Purification removes a small, unavoidable part; it does not make an interest-based product acceptable, and it is not counted as your charity for reward.
Open a US stock on the Stocks desk and find its purification ratio in the Shariah panel. Take a dividend you received, or a sample of Rs 10,000, and work out the amount to purify with the dividend method. Write it down as the first line of your purification record.
Open the Stocks desk →Key takeaways
- Purify the impermissible part of dividends: dividend x impermissible income %, given away without seeking reward.
- The screen decides whether you may hold a share; purification cleans the small impermissible part of what it pays.
- Avoid interest-bearing products in the first place, keep a purification record and use one method consistently.
Check yourself
Pass with 2 of 3 to complete the lesson. Answers are checked on our server, so the certificate means something.
Barqish is an educational platform. Nothing here is financial advice or an instruction to buy or sell, and screening is not a fatwa. Spot ownership only: no leverage, no short selling. Updated 30 September 2026.